Trains, Planes and Automobiles

Hannita orchestrated the Last Minute Great Midwest Blogger Fest and it was a great success. It consisted of Hannita (driving from Chicago through a raging blizzard), H (driving from her boyfriend's apartment in Ames), and me (driving 50 miles southwest).

Trains

I arrived in Small Town and was surprised that I had to wait for a train. This town is my half way pit stop to Des Moines and I've never waited for a train before. I was early and went into the cafe and grabbed a table and waited for the party to begin. I was there 5 minutes and another train went by.

Hannita arrived and we had barely made our introductions when yet another train went by. We ordered breakfast. It was served, we commenced to eating and I lost track of how many trains went by. Then H arrived and we continued chatting and eating and listening to the train traffic. I may have ignored the wonderful company because I was so fascinated by the amount of train traffic. I live by the tracks and I saw more trains from the Chit Chat Cafe in one hour than I see at home in a week.

I didn't photograph the trains and the traffic backed up off Walnut Street. What's wrong with me?? But I did get this of the cafe:

Chit Chat. You gotta love it.

And the inside was all decked out for Easter, as evidenced by this lovely portrait of Hannita and me, under the Easter Bunny arch:

Bunny Arch at the Chit Chat.

H had noticed an interesting tableau on her way to the cafe. I took a pictures on my way home since I had to wait for a train anyway.

Confusion House.

At first glance the place was all about Easter. But if you looked closely inside the sun room, you could see they just couldn't let go of Christmas.

Christmas never dies.

I went home from there but not without worry, as my best friend was trying to get from Philly to BFE Iowa.

Planes, Automobiles

She left Philly early Friday morning. She was worried about the 35 minute window at Milwaukee to catch the flight to DM. Not to worry! Her flight arrived on time at 9:00 a.m. The only problem was that it was snowing in Milwaukee and once she was there, she was THERE. It was 3 p.m. before any announcements were made about the airport being closed and all passengers being screwed. My friend compared it to a disaster zone with shell shocked people stuck in limbo, food kiosks closed and no hope in sight.

My friend booked a hotel room and a rental car and spent the night in Milwaukee hotel with room service and high speed internet. I knew she'd be up at 2 a.m. but my mistake was thinking she'd be on the road shortly thereafter. I didn't hear from her Saturday at all and I was worried.

I called her mother's Sunday morning and talked to my friend. She did get up at 2 a.m. but didn't make it home until 9 p.m. Saturday night. There were mishaps and missteps on her end and miscalculations on mine.

I worry because... because... it keeps the really bad crap from happening.